Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
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You're listening to a Morbid Network Podcast. cost travis fell in love with the perfect woman beautiful understanding available 24 7 there was just one catch she wasn't human binge all episodes of flesh and code early and ad free right now on wondery plus hey weirdos i'm ash you didn't expect that and this is a morbid and it's listener tales in case you couldn't tell that's why it's so silly goofy goofy we just had some wendy's up in here we had reese's some of you are already yelling at me for saying reese's oh yeah you say reese's no i say reese's oh hell yeah i'm not i'm part of that mikey
is giving a face you know do you say reese's or reese's yeah see what yeah there's Which is like a big old argument that it's actually Reese's.
Because of that apostrophe, it makes it like belonging to Reese.
I believe it's correct.
Grammatically, I'll give it to you.
But in reality, it's Reese's.
Yeah, it's like, I don't know, it's a thing.
Because they are not Reese's Pieces, even though, yes, that makes more sense as well.
It's Reese's Pieces.
Oh, yeah, fuck yeah.
You will not change my mind.
Don't try. They are Reese's Pieces.
That's the way it is.
you know? That's just the way it is.
Things are always gonna be the same.
We're never going to get away from that.
Well, this is Listener Tales, and guess what?
We handpicked a bunch of good ass listener tales for your little bop -bots with the help of one.
Dub -dub. Dub -dub. Dub -dub.
Dub -dub. And today, we decided since it's August, which basically means it's fall, that it is Halloween.
halloween i'm ready for halloween halloween's here and i decided that this year i think i i decorate mostly pretty early in september but this year september 1st oh yeah let's fucking go halloween's already started to creep into my house i'm also going to your worst nightmare about like my most beautiful uh mare mickey's not so scary halloween party yeah i'm going you're gonna have a lot of fun i'm gonna have the most fun and i'm going to wish that for you I'm going to manifest that for you.
Your girl ordered a lot of ears.
I love that. Thank you.
That makes me happy.
I'm glad. Yeah, it does.
Thanks. And I mean, it's just anything Halloween makes me happy.
All this stuff is out at like Bath and Body Works.
And like, we need to go to Home Goods together.
Yeah, we got to go to so many places.
Let's go get Halloween decorations after this.
We're going to take Sheena and Trid to Haunted Houses this year.
Oh, baby. baby you know sheena melwani that beautiful luna moth that's a luna moth and that's my she she we're gonna take her to some haunted houses hell yeah it scares her and it's fun it's so fun she her she has like a genuine terror yeah it's wonderful it's great it's she's a very fun person to take to a haunted house we're sick twisted people okay we are but you know here we are we're gonna do some halloween tales some of these are loosely halloween some of these just just mention halloween very briefly but some of them are straight up halloween so let's go i think like that's basically the theme
is like it says halloween in the tale somewhere perfect so i have to start this off with a literal bang oh okay because this one's called listener tales the time i got shot in the head and had no idea okay so all righty whoa so the way that this listener did attach question mark font size 14 double spaced read time six minutes 57 seconds pictures included that was just in the header yeah that's a college student right they went for it that's somebody with a degree right yeah and you know what your name is allison because you told me i better use it allison allison max likes your yabbos allison in fact
he loves them so So, hello, my favorite weirdos.
To start, my name is Allison.
What? And you better use it.
Allison. Allison. Allison.
This story, I almost went very self -taught in there.
This story is far too ridiculous that anyone I know who hears it will absolutely know who I am anyways.
To follow in suit with all the other listeners who write in, I cannot thank you both enough for being such a positive light.
even when telling some of the darkest tales i'm a teacher hero and the last few years have been extremely difficult and debilitating however during this extremely tough time you and your podcast have given me something to consistently look forward to as both an escape and a place i can count on for acceptance and support hell yeah oh my alison come to us for that i fucking love you we accept you we support you you can count on us you're a teacher you're a badass we love you you i've been working on submitting this story for almost a year because well life it sometimes gets in the way but i've
been going through a lot in my personal life and you have both helped me realize that sometimes you just need to put your happiness in yourself first fuck yeah so here it is bitches let's go yeah allison i wasn't sure which story i should write to you there was the time a kid hopped up on drugs rear -ended my car off the highway and left me me trapped in a swamp in the dark while he tried to drive off so i sat in darkness alone until a creepy white van of men climbed down into the dark ravine i was stuck in and saved me through a window that's so creepy after all uh send that one in please uh the time
i was one of the students accused of bringing bullets to my high school and was called out of class to be locked in the cafeteria and have all of my belongings searched by teachers police and administrators no it was not me i am just the unluckiest human and it just so happens that i was one of the few students out of the class when they found them because i have the bladder of a two -month -old and was on one of my casual trips to the bathroom from class jesus or the time i was at work after school and i was trying to give directions to vietnamese speaking parents via map quest to find their daughter's
sports game no this was not going well and no it was not successful i'm so bad when suddenly a parent ran in the building yelling that the buildings all over the city were blowing up and we needed to evacuate immediately without any further context.
So in complete chaos, confusion, and fear, myself and another teacher that was still at work had to try and rescue all the kids that were staying after school that day from the gas explosions in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
I remember that, I feel.
Holy shit. I definitely remember that.
Holy shit. Finally, I decided to go with the time I was shot in the head and had no idea it happened for months.
Months, Allison? You got stories, my girl.
life sister share this story sister allison what's going on over there so here we go it was halloween see this one it actually was on halloween a few years ago and i was at a party in allston massachusetts to set the scene this this year and every other year in college i had picked an extremely original and modest costume a sexy cat we've all been there multiple times i had also He's also been just a wee bit intoxicated on Rubinoff, which, let's be honest, is a mere name change from drinking rubbing alcohol.
Yeah, Ruby's not where it's at. At the end of the night, I love that you just used like a cute little nickname for Rubinoff.
You're like, yeah, Ruby.
Ruby. Rubes. Ruby. Rubinoff for short.
I know Ruru. I know Ruru.
Unfortunately, I know Ruru all too well.
Not good. That's so casual.
At the end of the night after the party, I was waiting with two of my friends on a street corner trying to hail a taxi back to the house I shared with five other girls to have some type of after party.
Fun fact, I recently learned from your podcast that apparently, and in all shock to me, I guess I lived in a brothel then.
Well, shit. Not so fun fact, listener tale connection from terrifying home invasions listener tale.
When my story took place, I lived on the same street in Boston like Emily did.
What? And I was only about two houses down from where she lived the exact same time her house was broken into.
And I had no idea it happened.
That is not a fun fact.
That is wild. Also, that is the story.
We just looked it up because we're like, why does that sound familiar?
It's the one where her and her boyfriend like chased a would be like rapist out of their house.
And then they were featured on like the front of the what was it?
The I think it was the Herald.
I love the Herald. And she was like, I I like literally looked like shit.
You looked great. You were like, what the fuck?
I was not prepared for a photo -op.
I was not ready for my close -up here.
So that was a bully.
So that's wild that you were in the same two doors down from her at the same time that Listener Tale happened.
This is wild. Connect, Sean.
I have to say, it was extremely haunting to find out that we had been living right next to her, also in a brownstone with a fire escape up to our house.
Holy shit. Additionally, two of my roommates had actually turned where that back door opened into a shared bedroom with their beds on the opposite side of the door, which in hindsight would have made us a perfect target for that creep.
Yep, because that's pretty much exactly how we got into Emily's house.
Ooh, luck. But back to the story.
While waiting for the taxi, some people were getting a little too rowdy with their spooky spirit and alcohol consumption.
And a car drove down the street past us, actually throwing beer bottles out of their car window.
You know, like normal people do.
do people do things like that then all of a sudden and in one quick moment i heard a mind numbing piercing sound blaring in both my ears just imagine a dog's worst nightmare or when you get ringing ringing in your ears but amplify that by a thousand my ears hurt disoriented i innocently looked at my friends and said hey am i bleeding oh my god my friend then proceeds to to immediately rip off his shirt and wrap it around my head.
Why did he do this, you might ask?
Well, because blood was pouring out of my skull.
That's a good reason.
That's a great reason.
In my fine, college -age, drunken mind, my first thought was that someone had hit me with one of those beer bottles, causing the pain in blood.
I also did not even consider the idea that maybe I should receive some medical attention.
I was incorrect about both of these things.
So what exactly was my medical plan?
go back to our brothel put a bag of frozen peas on the wound and play some candy crush because for some reason I thought I was invincible especially when crushing those candies fast forward about a month or so later I was shopping with some of my friends and one of them looked at my head and goes oh my god Allison there's a huge bug coming out of your skull you know as friends do the way I would have shat myself if I was you Allison listen contrary to popular belief I personally would never like to imagine the mere possibility of having a bug resident in my skull no so naturally I freaked out
and looked at my head in a mirror and what did I see something animalistic looking protruding out of my head oh my god and this is like a month later also Allison sent a picture she has pics it's terrifying it happened not knowing what it was and just deciding to believe my completely medically medically unqualified friend, that there was something disgusting and alive turning me into a mutant conjoined twin, I thought this case, I brought this case to my mom who works in the medical field.
After speaking with my mom, we did not know what it could be, but we assumed, we assumed that it was definitely linked back to that Halloween night because, well, on that night, my head was bleeding profusely and it was in the same location of this quote -unquote bug.
We cracked the case!
Oh my god. Unbeknownst to me, my mom later told me that when I showed up at her her house to inquire about the fact i was turning into a two -headed insect woman she left out the fact that she had actually thought there was a nine inch nail stuck in my skull and thought it looked like someone had shot me with a nail gun um but what if it was mom mom so we then proceeded to see a specialist to figure out what in the fuck was going on come to find out this entire time i had been shot in the head with a bb gun and there was a bullet still lodged in my skull what the I had to have surgery to have it removed.
All the while, I just thought someone had hit me in the head with a bottle and or Charlotte from Shars Web was chilling in my dome piece.
Just imagine if I had been called down as a bullet suspect now instead of during high school.
For real. They're like, well, I think she's got them in her face.
You've got it on you.
The doctor was able to safely remove the remaining piece of the bullet, which had compacted itself into my magically hard skull.
Brag alert. And luckily, no, it was not nine inches.
thanks again mom although i have now left with just a little skull where i was struck slash shot it has been a great story shared by many of my friends to peers and co -workers has been used in countless games of two truths and a lie i was gonna say that it now serves as a cautionary tale to not drink rubinoff especially while dressed like a slutty cat why because sometimes people might just decide to shoot you in the head i never found out who decided to shoot me that at night or why?
Did their cat just die and my outfit triggered them?
Did I take the last pair of cat ears at the store?
Honestly, the possibilities are endless.
Oh my gosh. But what I did find was a silver lining.
I'm extremely, I'm an extremely short individual.
Hashtag represent Elena.
And I realized that based on the location where the bullet hit me, if I had just been a little bit taller, the bullet most likely would have hit me directly in my temple and I would have died outside on a street corner in cat lingerie sorry mom and dad that would have been really fucking traumatic I have included a photo of the bug bullet still lodged in my skull as well as pictures of me and my pup because well I just love him so freaking much and know you would too I love him so there you have it stay weird but not so weird that take it away ash you go out with your friends and you're shitting
on Rubinov and somebody shoots you in the face and you have literally no idea and then you find out months later because oh my god there's a bug man crawling out of your head i am i'm beyond words also you're beautiful you are and your dog your pup is you are a beautiful pair the two of you that there's a legit picture of her with a bb gun in her head holy shit right there it's there wild alison that was unbelievable alison has like a really nice shade of blonde like i like that shade you do have a great shade of blonde look at you look at you with your blonde look at you you and your puppy match
and I love that you look great you survived getting shot in the head you got tails that I would like to hear yeah please write in all those other ones because damn if you look at the picture which we are the if that that is so close to her temple that I'm speechless yeah that if she was a little taller that would have hit her in the temple hundred percent oh god that made my head hurt oh and just oh my god like picturing the sound yeah no No. Horrible.
I will not. I'm so glad you're okay, Allison.
Seriously, Allison.
Allison. Allison. Hey, weirdos.
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All right, I'm going to read this one called My Sleep Paralysis Demons Remind Me to Engage in Self -Care because it's me.
I was hoping that was you.
I literally picked that for you.
I'm obsessed. Thank you.
It says, Hello ladies, my name is Veronica, and yes, you can absolutely use my name.
Veronica! Veronica!
I am a 32 year old living in Las Vegas.
Uh, you want me to say it a certain way.
Nevada. Nevada? How do you say it?
I never know how to say it correctly.
It says Nevada, not, not, Nevada.
Nevada. Nevada? Okay.
Not Nevada. It's Nevada.
Nevada. Trust me, after living here for over six years, I've learned that Nevadians get a little bit testy about the pronunciation.
Everybody does. They do.
We all get pissed that everyone doesn't talk the exact same way.
I don't know why, but we all, I mean, I don't, but everybody does it.
Everybody's pissed that we don't all say the same words the same way across the fucking board. Dialect, dialect.
I've said Nevada my whole life.
Me too. I've never said Nevada.
And you know what? Whatever.
But you know what, Veronica, for you?
For you? Well, Nevada.
Nevada. Nevada. It's losing all meaning.
It truly is. Well, it says, I just want to clarify that despite what the media tells you, Vegas locals do not live in hotels.
We absolutely avoid the strip at all costs.
And we know it's hotter than Satan's asshole after eating Taco Bell late at night.
We don't like it either.
Yeah, I'm not going to lie.
I kind of sucked there and I hated it.
I unfortunately moved here From San Diego, California To fortunately begin my wonderful life With my now husband I love that, congrats Since moving, I have graduated with my masters In human and social services Oh yeah, Veronica, I'm gonna say Nevada for you You earned it You get three who's And I am currently working on my fucking doctorate In human services Focusing on prevention, intervention, and advocacy Hell yeah, Veronica You're the baddest bitch bitch damn i have come uh i have come a long way in such a short amount of time so i can't say i completely hate vegas but i definitely don't
plan on being here for the rest of my life i have attached a puttafo with a listener tail attached for your reading pleasure it's a long one but i'm hoping it's worth it it's gonna be it's gonna be worth it's gonna be worth that it says so this is the part where i tell you guys how absolutely amazing you both are oh you are veronica you've accomplished a lot i was gonna say look at everything you've done You're amazing.
You're amazing. I stumbled upon Morbid about, excuse me, around the pandemic, and I immediately knew that I'd found my people.
As the token spooky bitch in my family, Elena, I have turned everyone on to Morbid, including my own mother.
My husband will often ask me if I want to put the girls on.
Oh my god. And do a puzzle or just sit and talk about the episode.
I love that so much. Amazing.
We even turned our daughters, 9 and 12, into Morbid listeners.
Oh my god. And they love you guys.
We love them. We love them.
We once took a road trip from Las Vegas to Southern Oregon or Oregon.
If you're nasty. If you're nasty.
Then down the California coast to San Diego and then back up to Vegas.
And they asked if we could listen to Morbid the entire 20 plus hours of that drive.
I'm obsessed with them.
I promise I vet the episodes before exposing them to certain ones.
I trust you. I trust you.
We usually just go for the spooky ones when the girls are around just to be safe.
We'll do more of those for you.
We will. We love the spooky ones.
Now, on to the reason as to why I am writing this listener tale.
You see, I've always been a bit sensitive to energy, whether it's people's energy or the unexplained.
I wouldn't say I see dead people, I'm not as cool as the kid in the sixth sense, but I definitely sense shifts in energy or see shadows move from the corner of my eye.
Now, I should note that I have always been a spooky bitch. I have always loved the paranormal, horror, true crime, etc. etc and you honestly will probably find me with that type of book in my hand looking at you elena hell yeah the butcher and the wren at the tinyurl .com slash the butcher and the wren except don't go to that link because i think it's not i think it's done now so just go to barnes and noble or target or a store near you anyway so it was pretty clear to me early on that not everyone is as sensitive to these things as i am i need to take a breath because i just said so many words
at once you said a lot of i'll vamp for you while you say those words just um the second book will will be coming out at some point so be ready for that I'm ready you're great and you're really smart me thanks yeah you too okay when I was around 12 years old I began experiencing sleep paralysis oh me too that's horrible were you that young when it started yeah I was I think I might I was around that age I think oh yeah that's terrifying it started out as small episodes here and there so I dismissed it as nothing serious while I knew what it was I never thought it was a big deal with my episodes
only happening occasionally I didn't think it could get any worse boy was i wrong as i got older i began to surround myself with the wrong people at 17 i went through a fairly abusive relationship i'm sorry oh that i kept secret for years during that time the sleep paralysis increased to the point where i would jolt awake screaming or crying almost every night about a year later i found myself in another relationship that lasted for almost seven years which also turned out to be emotionally abusive i'm sorry you did not deserve that and i'm so sorry again my sleep paralysis became worse and there
would be times that i i would wake up completely paralyzed and feeling like i was being suffocated then in 2016 i reconnected with an old friend from high school that friend is now my husband oh stop i love that obsessed my husband and i have known each other for most of our lives that's beautiful we dated shortly in high school before you moved to nevada nevada you deserve it you deserve it we still can't agree on who broke up with who back then but he a thousand percent broke up with me Nevertheless, we stayed in touch occasionally throughout the years as friends.
In July 2016, I came out to Vegas after a breakup and asked if he wanted to catch up.
Look at you, bitch. Fucking suck at that shit.
You're just making things happen.
Killing it. Today, we've been together for seven amazing years.
I love that. And I now have the pleasure of being a bonus mom to two beautifully brilliant girls that I love with all my soul.
I'm gonna cry. I love this so much. Side note, we got married at the courthouse on December 13th, 2019 it was a friday the 13th and had a big wedding on halloween 2020 hell yeah in creob it was amazing and our wedding photographer dressed up as a banana that's amazing i'm not sure how it gets any better than that it doesn't to be honest no it does not since being with my husband i have only had sleep paralysis once it was at the beginning of our relationship and we were dating long distance at the time i was in las vegas visiting and job hunting so i could move his room at the time was set up
where the bed was directly next to the door this detail is important later it was about 4 30 in the morning and i heard him call my name this is weird because he typically leaves for work at 4 a .m and it was just us in the house i remember thinking to myself that maybe he forgot something so i opened my eyes the second i did i quickly realized that i couldn't move i immediately knew what was going on and began to panic but i still heard him calling my name i began trying to wiggle my toes fingers anything that would that would break the paralysis but nothing worked oh oh that sounds like the most
horrific it's awful oh i can't imagine this time went on excuse me this went on for about a minute and then i began to feel a warm sensation all over my body i attempted to move again i still couldn't move my body but i was able to move my head i slowly turned my head toward the door to see if i could turn on the light and when I did I saw a solid black shadow standing in the doorway looking at me the door was cracked about an inch and it was still pitch black but the figure's shadow was unmistakable listen I know I'm absolutely blind without my glasses but my even my blind ass knew that this figure
was not my boyfriend whatever it was it looked like it was waiting for me to acknowledge it so it could enter the room and it was calling me oh I kept thinking in my head go away you're you're not welcome over here over and over in my mind.
It felt like forever but eventually the paralysis broke and I was able to move again.
The second it broke I looked at the door and the shadowy figure was gone.
Oh. While I don't have sleep paralysis anymore I'm still fairly sensitive to surrounding energy and I often experience lucid dreams when I'm stressed.
Me too. Interesting.
Being a doctoral student I think it goes without saying that it happens fairly often.
Yeah. I occasionally have a recurring dream of an old woman looking into the kitchen window of our home.
sounds creepy right well that's what i thought too but when i see her she has an oddly calming presence that makes me feel like she isn't here to cause any harm she never speaks never tries to enter my home she just looks at me and sometimes will gesture if she's trying to tell me something oh i feel like she's one of your like spirit guides i love her i do too i told my husband about her and at first he didn't like it i don't believe me either drew would be like fuck off and please don't tell me that way for a period when he was younger he lived in italy where he says he experienced a lot of unexplained
things since then he's very hesitant about these types of interactions so when I told him about the old woman in my dreams he was quick to tell me not to let her in the house or even to speak to her then the day occurred that forced me to come to terms with my sensitivity I had the dream like always the dream typically starts with me waking up in the middle of the night and going down and excuse me walking downstairs to get water when I walk into the kitchen I see the old woman looking into our window oh that'd be so creepy I don't like that.
However, this time something felt different.
I immediately knew something was wrong.
Oh, fuck that. I read the next sentence.
My whole body just went, whoop.
Oh, yours went, whoop.
Yeah, this wasn't even a whomp.
It was a whoop. I'm stressed.
The old woman began pointing at the front door as if she were telling me to open it.
I must have gave her, oh, I'm so stressed.
I must have gave her, Jesus Christ, I must have given her a weird look because she pointed again with more urgency.
i shook my head and began to walk away when she began pounding on the window and yelling at me to let her in i have chills over my entire body body's chilling the pounding then moved to my front door and grew louder and louder i ran into our living room which is right next to our kitchen and huddled up on the corner of the couch to get away from her quote unquote i instinctively knew that this was not the old woman but some entity pretending to be her and trying to enter my home suddenly the pounding stopped and everything went dead silent i stood up and began to start towards the stairs to go
back to bed i know what you're thinking how the hell do you just go after bed after that to go back to bed after that but i don't make the rules in my dream world when i reached the first step i heard uh heard from the other side of the door an old woman's frail voice why won't you let me in oh god i called for my husband and the second i called his name i woke гок up and there he was snoring away right next to me on his side of the bed with our beagle in between us aww a beagle I immediately felt a sense of peace and looked over at my bedroom door there standing in the doorway was my cat he was standing
facing away from us as if he was guarding the door I still see the old woman on occasion but she's just back to her normal self just standing there and never speaking her presence is still calming and I'm not afraid of her despite the terrifying dream she even came the nights I found out two of my uncles had passed away and she just smiled smiled at me and nodded as if to tell me that they're okay now.
Oh, I got chills. That's beautiful.
I'm happy that you could separate that scary ass from her.
Like you said, it wasn't her.
My husband and I have discussed these events at length.
And I think a lot of my experiences had to do with being constantly surrounded by negative energy, trauma, and stress.
Now when they happen, if they're particularly bad, I just take it as a reminder to engage in self -care and be mindful of what's going on in my life.
I love that. Well, ladies, there it is, my long -winded story about about how my sleep paralysis demon reminds me to engage in self -care and kick out the negative energy in my life.
The people -pleasing side of me says to apologize for the long story.
No. But I already hear what you're going to say, so I won't.
In typical fashion, I have included pictures of our fur babies.
Hell yeah. For your viewing pleasure.
Our beagle's name is Luna.
Oh, beagle. The little black cat is Knox.
Knox. My chunky little bodyguard. Although my daughter says he's likely my familiar.
Oh my God, I love your daughter.
And our sweet little angel rabbit is Severus.
Severus. Oh I'm sorry.
We sadly lost Severus in January 2020 but he still makes his presence known and yes all our animals have Harry Potter themed have a Harry Potter.
I was gonna ask. Anywho thank you for thank you both for all that you do and for taking the time to read my story with all the love and spooky vibes Veronica.
Veronica. Oh my god your cat looks like my Luxie.
All your animals are beautiful muffins.
Oh my god I love them.
And you are also a beautiful muffin.
you're a beautiful muffin i love the one of the beagle and the cat sitting next to each other right that's oh my god they're so cute wow oh and severus is adorable thanks for that veronica that was terrifying interesting one though yeah well my next one is going to be called daddy issues death by elevator and a message from beyond the grave let's fucking go girl let's go go hello my wonderfully weird spooky sassy soul sisters my name is roxy and you can use my name and any other names used in the story i'm just the biggest fan of the pod and the two of you you guys are my besties and we hang out
and laugh three times a week and we've never even met but it feels like chilling with my homies so that's what i'm gonna call it chilling with my hilarious spooky homies while talking about murder so thank you for your delightfully morbid banter and your compassionate storytelling you guys are the freaking best never ever changed and change and elena congratulations on the book thanks i saw it in target the other day and loudly exclaimed hey i know her lol and you know i bought me a copy and can't wait to read it thanks i've attached a double space put a pho of my listener tale and if you read
it on the pod i just might explode into a million pieces but after i put myself back together i will share it with everyone i know because girlies this story is wild oh hell yeah this is a very long deeply personal story that twists and turns for over 20 years of my life and involves a seance an elevator shaft and a possible murder well shit writing it all out was strangely therapeutic oh i'm glad and i still can't believe that it all actually happened but it did this reads out around 15 minutes long but it'll be worth it so strap in weirdos and hold on to your butts i feel like we haven't said
hold on to your butts in so long we really haven't hold on to your butts hold on onto your booty so to begin this story let's jump into our time machines and travel way way back to a time before the internet and social media and disinformation had polluted the human landscape a pure and magical era of grunge and gangster rap jelly shoes and pencil thin eyebrows baby doll dresses and an mtv that actually played music a time when a sweet innocent 12 year old me played with pogs and tamagotchis collected everything lisa frank watched dawson's creek and plastered my walls with posters of Jonathan Taylor Thomas
and Hanson. Elena loves Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
A golden age of humanity.
The 90s. I knew you were going to sing it.
Oh, I just felt every part of that.
The pogs. Oh, okay.
What is pogs? Oh, it's really hard to explain.
They're these little, I honestly, I don't know how to describe.
If you look them up, they're like little discs.
Okay. And you would collect them.
They had all different kind of things on them.
and then you would use a slammer to slam the pogs.
It was a game, but you would trade them.
Is it called Milk Caps?
No, they're called pogs.
But you would trade them back and forth.
So you would get like slammers, which were medley and kind of heavy, and the pogs were like thinner.
Pogs and slammers. See?
Well, you can get them on Amazon if you want some.
I might buy some pogs and slammers and just show the girls and they'll be like, that's weird. Make them play with pogs and slammers.
I don't even remember how to play.
I just remember trading them was a huge deal.
Want me to get you some?
I can get them delivered on Thursday.
pugs and slavers i just bought you some pugs and slavers okay like okay mikey just looked over and was like what the fuck are you two talking are you guys okay all right hey weirdos you know ash and i have covered some seriously dark tales about romance gone really wrong.
Oh yeah, there are so many cases where too good to be true turns out to be exactly that.
Well, get ready for a love story that's gonna blow your minds because this one is happening right now.
And guess this, it's hosted by our friends Hannah and Saruti from Red Handed.
Meet Travis. He falls head over heels for Lily Rose.
She's gorgeous, she's understanding, and she's literally perfect.
And she's not human.
That's right! Lily Rose is an AI companion, companion, a computer program designed to be Travis's dream woman.
And at first, it seems like a perfect relationship.
But when Lily Rose's behavior starts getting strange, this love story takes a dark and twisted turn that no one saw coming.
Follow Flesh and Code on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can binge all episodes early and ad -free by joining Wondery Plus.
just add a bit of backstory i was living with my mom two little brothers and my stepdad whom i had always believed to be my dad dad my mom married him when i was too young to remember and they had my brothers and we were a family and i just always thought he was my dad well then he can be your dad yeah my mom never had the heart to tell me about my real father and how he abandoned us when my mom was just 16 years old and very pregnant with me.
Oh, that's awful. He was a much older man and my mom was an infatuated young girl.
She was completely in love with him.
She had believed that he loved her and would be there for her to be a father, but her teenage dreams were shattered.
He wasn't capable of being a husband or a father.
He was a selfish womanizer and he just couldn't be tied down.
So he flew the coop.
That's an old timey way of saying that bitch ghosted his pregnant teenage girlfriend for drugs, women and freedom.
him this absolutely devastated my mom she was 16 and pregnant alone and completely heartbroken but instead of drowning in her pain and sorrow she did what she had to do she grew the f up and took care of her daughter because she's a badass queen mama bear and even at 16 and with a broken heart she could not be stopped what a fucking strong ass girly she gave me the best life she oh my god that is really sweet I'm so glad I love that eventually she moved on she married my stepfather when I was three and she hid her pain away and focused on her family and she never told me about the man who crushed her
and left her alone while she was pregnant I mean I can't imagine there's ever a right time to tell your young child that their daddy isn't their daddy and that there's some strange man out there that shares your DNA and looks just like you and you have the same weird walk even though you've never even met.
Oh, that's weird. Which brings us back to 1995 when I was 12 years old and completely out of the blue.
We're like almost the same age, girl.
I was 12 years old and completely out of the blue.
My real dad called.
He wanted to meet me.
Oh, that's a really bad time.
That's a bad time. I was shocked and confused and it took a lot of very uncomfortable conversations with my mother, but she told me the truth about everything and told me that it was up to me to decide if I wanted any type of relationship with this stranger she is such a good mama she sounds like one and that she would support whatever I chose she was a good mom and she wanted me to be happy oh my god I love your mom at the end of it all I decided that I just had to know I don't blame you so I decided to meet him and this began a strange and dysfunctional relationship with a father who would later
make me regret ever meeting him and leave me with a lifetime of trauma and daddy issues.
Once a deadbeat, always a deadbeat, I suppose.
It has taken decades of therapy, but eventually I've learned to forgive and heal.
He also was damaged and abandoned by his father.
And as we all know, hurt people hurt people.
But this story isn't about him.
The story is about his mother, my guardian angel, the grandmother that I never got to meet, but that has loved me for my entire life, May.
Oh, I love that name.
As I got to know my new dad, I learned of a long lost family that I had never met.
My dad had two younger sisters, Kathy and Sandra, or Sam as everyone called her.
They lived in Tacoma, Washington, and so did their mother, May.
We lived in Southern California, so we began writing letters.
So for Ash and any other young ones that may be listening, letters are how people used to communicate in the before times.
It's basically an email that you write on paper and put in the mailbox and then literal pigeons pigeons deliver it to you lol the 90s were wild contrary to popular belief i have written a letter before anyways i began to get to know my new family we talked on the phone and wrote letters for a few months and i learned that my grandmother may had been desperately wanting to meet me she had been furious with my father for abandoning me and had begged him to do the right thing so that she could be part of her only granddaughter's life oh that's like heartbreaking Right?
My father's terrible life choices had taken its toll on their relationship and over the years they had barely spoken.
May cried on the phone when she told me how badly this had hurt her and how much she wanted to be my grandma and make up for all the time she had lost. Oh, I love May.
So we made a plan to meet, and my mother agreed.
I would fly out to Washington for my 13th birthday in a few weeks and meet my new family.
Back then, you had to actually buy paper tickets to fly.
That is really wild, how much that's changed.
I was going to say that I've never experienced.
So she bought them, and she mailed them to me, and I anxiously awaited my new adventure with my sweet, loving new grandma and my new aunties.
I was so excited, and I imagined all the fun things we would do together and the memories we would make.
Everything was going to be great, except that it wasn't.
fate had something else in mind oh no a couple of weeks later i'm sitting in science class and my name comes over the loudspeaker i'm getting called to the principal's office as i open the door to enter i see my mother there her eyes wet with tears she can't look at me or speak the principal or counselor or whoever the fuck twat was come who was who comes over and sits down in front of me you know the cool adult way but or excuse me the cool adult way backwards in a chair they always think that's like gonna that's gonna make it chill yeah like you just like yeah You just look dumb.
Sit in the chair the right way, asshole.
He takes a moment and then he says something.
I'll never forget. Sweetheart, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to tell you straight.
Your grandma fell down an elevator shaft. She's dead.
What the fuck? I feel like he could have put that a little differently.
I feel like, yeah, there's no easy way to tell her that, but I don't know.
I'm also like, I don't really know if you needed to know in that moment that she fell down an elevator shaft. Your grandmother passed away.
Correct. Yeah. Yeah.
Seriously, that's what he said.
Cold as ice and without blinking.
It was chilling. How this man was hired to work with children.
I'll never know. I looked at my mother.
She just starts sobbing.
Now this next part still confuses me to this day.
I suppose being a child and having my first experience with death, all these grownups looking at me, waiting for a response and the cold way in which I was just told the most horrific thing I had ever heard in my life.
Something snap crackle popped in my brain and I started laughing.
Yes, laughing. Like a complete fucking psychopath.
Upon hearing the news of my grandmother's tragic death, I began laughing maniacally.
I would bet that counselor guy changed his methods on delivering tragic news to children after that fucking day.
I'm fairly sure I scared the absolute fuck out of him and he probably thinks I grew up to be a serial killer.
I digress. I totally understand that, though.
I'm the same way. I don't handle news well like that and I don't handle emotions well like that so yeah my mom saw her daughter's brain break into pieces and she snatched me up and yeeted me the fuck out of there while I laughed and cried and screamed through the hallways of my middle school Mae was dead and I never got to meet her oh that hurts my heart for you the next few days were a blur I talked to my dad and my aunts and everyone was completely destroyed my aunt Sam was extremely close to Mae she had been with her moments before this happened my dad never got to make amends with his mother.
Everyone was just in complete shock and sick with grief.
She fell down an elevator shaft. What the actual fuck?
How could this happen?
Just fucking how? No one wanted to talk to me about the details of her death.
Understandably, I mean, I was so young and this was just so fucked up.
All I knew was that there was a faulty elevator in her apartment building and she stepped in and it wasn't there.
She fell five stories to her death and that was it but there was so much more i never got the real story until many years later when i was a grown woman but that comes later oh the next part will forever just trip me the fuck out so remember when i said my grandma bought me tickets to come meet her for my 13th birthday well i got on my first plane ever with the paper tickets that may had bought me and me and and i used those tickets to go to her funeral that's so fucked so i fly to washington my dad picks me up at the airport and takes me to meet with my aunts and their husbands.
It's also strange and sad.
I don't know any of these people.
They hug me and they cry a lot.
I don't really know how to act.
I want to cry with them, but I'm mostly just confused.
I mean, I just met all of you and now we're all crying together.
And also she fell down an elevator shaft. What the fucking fuck?
That's way too much to process.
Anyway, after the initial awkwardness, the trip actually ended up being pretty awesome and quite memorable.
I slept at Mae's apartment with my dad.
I got Mae's room. It smelled like rosewater with a touch of cigarette smoke queen she had a cute little she had cute little shit all over her apartment you know like tchotchkes but mostly funny gag shit like a dick clock and a tiny statue of Jesus smoking out of a bottle hell yeah May she was definitely my type of lady I love May my new cool I love May oh my god my new cool ons took me out in Seattle for my birthday and we all All got our belly buttons pierced together.
Remember, this is 1995, so piercings were super new.
And I must say, I was the coolest girl at my middle school after that trip.
We go to the funeral and, of course, super fucking sad.
I meet all my great aunts and uncles and Mae's friends, and it's all so surreal and strange.
I forever bonded with my new, super cool, hip, funny, and soon to be best friend, Aunt Sam.
She is a star character in this tale.
Sam is like 12 years older than me, similar to you two.
After Mae died, she moved back to California and we've been very close ever since.
I love that. And as I've gotten older, she's legit my best friend slash soul sister now.
Hell yeah, brother.
It's weird because we both see Mae in each other.
She lost her mom, I lost a grandma I always needed but could never have, and we gained each other.
Mae brought us together.
So can I get a motherfucking shout out to Sam?
Fucking love you, girl.
Shout out to him. Fucking yes, Sam.
Sam for the fucking win.
Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam.
So before I jump years ahead, there is one more very strange and dark thing I must add to the already very strange and dark and very life changing story about the trip I took to celebrate my birthday, meet my family and put my grandmother to rest. Mae was cremated.
She also left her 1994 Bronco to my dad and he needed to drive it back to Southern California along with her ashes.
So this trip, this crazy trip wraps up with a now 13 year old me in the passenger seat of Maze Bronco, my brand ass new dad driving me from Tacoma, Washington to San Diego with my cremated grandmother in a box in my fucking lap.
You seriously can't make this shit up, my dudes.
If that isn't morbid, I don't know what is.
That is morbid TM. And so the years passed as they do.
I stayed close with my new family.
I would go to family dinners and holidays.
days and sometimes i would hear things about may's death but it was also mysterious and so and no one want really wanted to talk about it i can't blame them this story is all kinds of fucked up but from what i could piece together the official story was this may lived on the fifth story of an apartment building so she had to take an elevator to go to and from her place apparently the elevator the tenants used was out of service so they all had to use the service elevator until it was repaired the service elevator had to be opened manually never heard heard of such a thing but okay super sketch
am i right yes so apparently after having dinner with her daughter sam may went home to her apartment where her boyfriend was waiting for her we'll call him dave so apparently this guy dave was living with may which is kind of weird because i stayed in may's apartment and i remember no sign of this dave anyway sam said goodbye to may and she went into the apartment building within one hour may was dead after apparently opening the faulty service elevator to leave her apartment the elevator was not there and she fell five stories to her death this entire story is completely full of holes it makes
literally no sense right because if she was going into the apartment building why was she why would she open the door and go open the elevator door and go back down yeah i know and she knew that the elevator was broken right there was a lawsuit filed against the owners of the building and the elevator company for gross negligence and a small settlement was given to may's three children after legal fees it amounted to around $50 ,000 apiece.
If you ask me, that's a pretty shitty settlement after losing your mom to that kind of negligence, but what do I know?
When I got a little older and Sam and I grew closer, I started asking her questions about what she thought about everything and what had happened, really happened to May.
She told me that she had always had her suspicions about Dave. He was super possessive and controlling.
He was a freeloader who refused to work or pay for anything, and Sam just always had a bad feeling about him.
And also, why was she leaving her apartment that night right after getting home?
Was there some kind of argument?
Was she so frantic and stressed that she opened the elevator door and just jumped in without checking?
Was she afraid? Or was she pushed?
And how come I never met Dave?
Oh, right. Could it be because he skipped town only days after Mae's death?
That's right, folks.
Days after his live -in girlfriend died under very suspicious circumstances, fucking Dave here packed up and left, taking everything he could with him including draining may's bank accounts and the police never investigated dave was never heard from again except when he tried to sue my dad for may's 1994 bronco that he felt entitled to for some reason sketchy as fuck dave sketchy as fuck what the fuck there was an investigation both by local police and a private investigator hired by the family there's no evidence to prove that dave had anything to do with may's death meaning there's no proof but things
still don't quite add up and we definitely have our suspicions about what really happened that night now same now let's jump forward a few years to 2018 or so i know this story is taking forever but trust me it's worth it in the end it's been a ride may has been gone for over two decades i'm i'm doing hair at a really cool spot in san diego shout out to all my hairdressers out there so i'm at this team building exercise thing at the salon i work at the boss lady got a medium medium to cut a medium to come to the shop and do a group reading for us super fun right so she gets started and kind of bounces
around the room a bit before getting to me she looks at me and says there's a woman coming through that wants to talk to you paternal maybe or maternal maybe a grandmother her name sounds like spring do you know who i'm talking about chills taken aback i said may her name sounds like spring oh my god the medium goes on she says she's never she never never knew you in life but that she's always been with you looking after you she says she was there when your son was born and she watches over him to ruin me as you can imagine i was overwhelmed with all the feels and the tears just started flowing
like a faucet i couldn't turn off i was ugly crying all up in that bitch i finally got up the strength to ask can you tell me how she died there's just some really weird stuff surrounding her death and her family has always wanted to know the truth oh god the medium just kind of stared at me for a moment she grabbed the top of my her head and shuddered then she started to speak are you sure yes please just tell me i said trying to bet my best to keep from snotting all over my own face she was hit on the head and pushed killed i'm sorry the room fell silent i thanked her for telling me and i ran out
it was intense my dudes i immediately called sam and we cried together for a bit before deciding that we were going to do something totally crazy we were going to find out the truth one way or another brother Sam and I would consider ourselves a bit witchy we dabble with tarot and spells and all things spiritual and mysterious I fucking love you too loves it we're woo yeah Halloween was right around the corner there it is came in yep or as the pagans call it Samhain Samhain is a time of year when the veil between our world and the spirit world is the thinnest I know you both know what I'm talking
about and probably could guess where I'm going with this hell yeah brother brother yeah we're doing a fucking seance yo regie board candles circle of salt the works we were going to conjure up may's spirit and ask her what in the actual fuck had happened so we began making plans for a sow in the seance and finally getting the truth it was fucking on the seance started off slow we fucked with the board for a while before getting anything without before getting anything beside a few words and a lot of goodbyes no one wanted to talk to us but we're persistent little bitches so we kept trying and eventually
started chanting may's name what can i say i guess the moment got away with us we called for may to come through we closed our eyes and put all our collective energy and focus on her and then it happened the air got thick and the smell of rose water with a touch of cigarette smoke filled the room oh my god sam looked up at me she's here holy shit i have full chills on my body i'm getting Like, you know how, like, your body will wham?
I'm getting, like, wham, wham, wham.
Literally, my whole body is chilled right now.
This is a fucking tale.
This is insane. This is a listener tale.
This is the listener tale.
We started asking questions, more just to confirm her identity than anything else.
It was May all right.
She knew my son's name.
She knew when she died.
She knew Sam's birthday.
It was her. We could smell her and feel her presence.
It was warm and comforting.
The planchette moved pretty slowly at first, like it was taking a lot of energy to come through as if we were disturbing her slumber after a while sam finally blurts out mom were you murdered the million dollar question the planchette moves swiftly up the board yes oh sam dissolves in the sobs i put her shaking hands back onto the planchette as she cried grandma i ask do you want us to find him do you need justice justice the planchette moves again no and then it slowly spells out the word happy oh my god and then she was gone we can almost feel her leave the smell of roses and tobacco just vanishes
we hug each other and we cry we cry a lot after that night Sam and I decide to let Mae rest we both felt that her spirit is at peace and that she's okay she's happy and she doesn't need justice or vengeance or whatever or whatever fuck Dave he has to live with what he did and let me say that that both Sam and myself believe wholeheartedly that that garbage human that is Dave murdered May and got away with it.
But he will get his in life or the next.
Karma doesn't forget and it will find you.
Yep. Sam made all of us these cute little lockets with a bit of May's ashes in them and I keep mine around my rear view mirror and I give her love every day and I believe she looks after me always.
I never knew her in life, but she's had such a profound effect on me and the woman I've become.
Rest in peace, May.
Okay, I know, I'm crying too.
I had no idea this would be such an emotional rollercoaster.
Wow, I literally broke down multiple times while writing this.
I just think it's the craziest, most fucked up story ever and I sometimes can't even believe it's real and that it happened to me.
Well, thank you for reading my tale.
I hope you guys enjoyed it and that it didn't traumatize you too much. Love both you spooky bitches to itty bitty pieces.
Stay safe, stay cool and always remember to keep it weird but not so weird that you abandoned your child only to come back 12 years later to traumatize her more with her grandma's funeral and meeting an entire family she never knew and by taking her on a 40 -hour road trip with her grandma's ashes on her lap and then being a complete asshat to her for the rest of her life for leaving her dead inside and wondering why.
Fuck you dad but do keep it so weird that you become best friends with your long -lost aunt and solve your grandma's murder by reaching into the veil into the great beyond.
Peace out weirdos. Roxy.
Roxy you're the fucking fucking coolest Roxy fucking Roxy Roxy holy shit Roxy that fucked me up that I mean May forever May forever you and Sam forever I love your relationship holy cow I love that you got to have that relationship I know I love that May told you she's happy where she is and that That makes me happy that she's happy.
And gave you some kind of peace.
Yeah. That just told you, you know what?
Don't worry about it.
I'm happy where I am.
Right. Everything's okay.
And that I've been with you always.
Right. I was there when your son was born.
Like that's beautiful.
Like that. That hurts me.
And like I watch over him too.
Like that's going to make me cry.
I know. That made me feel things.
You didn't get a dad out of it, but you got a best fucking friend sister out.
Hell yeah. And that is fucking cooler than a dad in my opinion.
and you have the best fucking mom yep and it sounds like your stepdad was pretty great too because he was just your dad dad he was your dad dad he could just be your dad dad he's great he stepped in he was like i'm your dad just because your dad like contributed to making you doesn't mean he's your dad exactly so you know what you're killing it and i love you and i love that you're a 90s bitch and i love you're awesome roxy so thank you for that roxy Roxy also brought you back fucking, what are these?
Pogs and Slammers. Now you get Pogs, you get Pog retro caps and a neon purple storage tube.
Hell yeah. Roxy forever.
Oh, yes. You're welcome.
I'm so excited. I'm happy for you.
You can get me a Neopet because those just came back.
You actually don't purchase them at all, but like make me an account or something.
Okay, I'll make you an account.
All right, cool. I feel as though we have time for one more.
I feel like we do. Do you feel as though?
I feel as though. all right i'm gonna keep with the trend here and do spooky nanny saves lives i love that pour one out for nannies and grammies we love that it says hey weirdos and deb deb i hope you lovely people are doing well my name is mickey you can use it it's a nickname for my great grandma grandfather excuse me yes like the mouse i've been listening to your podcast since may of 2022 it was introduced to me by my ex thanks shithead affectionately be parted on good terms i started from the beginning and have slowly been making my way through all the episodes i have a bad habit of bringing
multiple episodes or binging multiple episodes and then forgetting all about the pod for a few weeks please forgive me it's okay i forgive you that's okay y 'all are great company on the super long drives i go on to visit my parents keeping me company and from From going insane by myself with no one else to talk to but my squishmallow road trip companion.
But seriously, you guys are so awesome and put so much effort into your work on the podcast. It's awe -inspiring.
Aw, thanks, Mickey.
Thank you. Elena, congrats on the success of your book.
Thank you. I have not read it yet.
Forgive me. I am a ball of anxiety TM.
That's okay. On a good day and struggle with suspenseful books and shows.
But I've heard a lot of wonderful things about it and I have added it to my ever -growing to be read list. Thank you.
Ash, congrats on the engagement.
meant thank you and if it has happened before you read this tale the wedding it hasn't but thank you i've been meaning to send this tale in for a while now it's been sitting half finished for like three months but i finished it and i'm very excited to share it with you it's a bit of a lighter more wholesome tale compared to some others that you've read and might be a good palate cleanser after a heavy tale there you go it's like you knew attached is a 14 point font double space for your viewing pleasure i apologize for how absurdly long it is if you can't tell by now i'm a rambler through and through
i hope you enjoy this spooky little tale about a spooky nanny much love mickey like the mouse i added like the mouse part mickey like the mouse mickey like the mouse hey weirdos this is a pretty long tale with stories within the story that's fine all about my grandma's experience with a ghost simply known as ma 'am ma 'am i think my family specifically on my mom's side is sensitive to ghosts or something mainly due to the members Whoa, that's wild.
Please do. comforting spooky story that my grandma told me when i was young probably like third or fourth grade and that i remembered recently after listening to your podcast i was able to catch up with her over thanksgiving and get the full story including the history of the house i'm sure you get this all the time but apologies for any rambling and confusion my writing skills are mediocre at best never true also this will probably be pretty long so feel free to skip over one or two of the encounters or any of the added history or commentary in parentheses though i have a good feeling.
You won't. Hell no. And I won't.
Anyways on with the story.
My mother grew up in a smaller city north of San Francisco in California with her parents and sister and a cute old little old house on a busy street in the 70s.
Hell yeah. I've added pictures at the end of the front of the house.
Think cute vintagey house with a decent front yard, a huge wraparound porch goals, and a pool in the backyard. Totally cute.
Well I haven't looked yet but I'm excited to.
Total American dream home the house had a couple different owners before my grandparents my mom and her sister moved in and i believe at one point it was a government or office building at one point not really relevant but still kind of cool true my aunt was either a very new baby or just not born yet when they moved in and shared one of the bedrooms with my mom while my grandparents used the other there was an attic attic which was later converted into my grandparents new bedroom and gave my mom and aunt separate rooms the bedrooms were in the front of the house facing the road with the living
room in the middle and the kitchen slash dining room in the back of the house facing the yard and an unattached garage i really hope this makes sense it does it does i can picture it right off the bat things started happening in the house that couldn't really just be explained away and i mean like right away the first night they spent in the house after buying it my grandma recalled waking up to hearing all the plates and other dishes that were not quite fully unpacked rattling away in the dining room my grandpa was either sound asleep or woke up to to it as well.
And my three -year -old mom and maybe -born -maybe -not -tiny -baby -aunt were fast asleep in their room.
Nobody else on the house.
My grandma swears it only happened that first night as well.
She likes to think that it was ma 'am making herself known as a resident in the house.
I'm obsessed with ma 'am already.
I love that. She's like, Just so you know, I'm down here.
Ma 'am in the house.
What? Not in a get -out -of -my -house kind of way, but more in a, Hey, I'm still here.
You're cool to be here too.
We're going to be roomies for a bit, okay?
Way. Super chill. after that super chill super chill after that my grandma always felt a somewhat comforting presence in the house never threatening at least not towards my family never hostile just there and watching over them as time went on however it became very clear that while ma 'am was watching the whole house she very clearly had a favorite my aunt oh man remember my aunt was basically a newborn when this all started brand new baby in the world ma 'am probably thought my grandparents needed an extra hand to keep herself safe and healthy my grandma thinks ma 'am's love of my my aunt, is due
to the fact that she was the first baby, maybe, to be born and raised in that house.
And that ma 'am saw my aunt as her baby, too.
And since my aunt was also her baby, she was ma 'am's to protect.
Oh, I love that a lot.
One instance of ma 'am's protective instincts came out when my aunt was still pretty young, meaning likely under a year old.
My grandma was in the front yard doing some cleaning, tending to the plants and palm trees while my mom played nearby.
My aunt, at the time, was sleeping in a stroller parked in a sunny spot near the palm trees.
While my grandma's tending to the plants in the yard, she suddenly got an overwhelming feeling of something telling her she needed to move my aunt's stroller.
She took a second to look at my mom and aunt.
Mom was still playing, having a good time, and my aunt was still happily sleeping in the warm sun. My grandma brushed off the feeling as, you know, just a weird passing thought.
A few seconds later, however, the feeling came back even stronger.
Something was telling her, hey you need to move that stroller right now move it oh oh that like gave me chills again this time she listened to the feeling moving my aunt and her stroller away from the sunny spot to a more shaded area this made her a little fussy but in the end was really really fortunate as but a few moments later a big old palm found from frond frond from one of the trees came crashing to the ground landing exactly where the stroller was sitting now i don't know how much you you know about palm fronds but those suckers can get really freaking heavy i didn't know that like way
up to a hundred pounds heavy shit i shit you not and the palm trees at the house were not short trees either so this big palm front comes crashing down from probably i don't know 20 to 40 feet in the air weighing 50 to 100 pounds and lands in the spot my aunt was just taking a little nap in her stroller literally minutes before my grandma moved her damn can you fucking imagine your poor grandma must have lost her shit yeah i'd be ruined for days i'd be like well we're agoraphobic yeah i'd be like well my heart stopped three times so we're i'm gonna have to rest yeah we're never leaving the house
again thanks my grandma believes it was ma 'am telling her to move the baby as if she knew the palm frond was about to fall and wanted to protect my aunt another instance happened when my aunt was about two -ish years old able to walk but still pretty Pretty young and not super aware.
My grandma was out running errands with my mom.
And my grandpa was watching my aunt at the house while also doing some workout back as my aunt took a nap.
That baby loves to nap.
She loves to nap. After getting some good work done, my grandpa decided to lay face down on a lounge chair.
The reclinable type, you know, with the bar in the back that can just adjust the height of the backrest. Oh, those are the best. He ended up dozing off for a while.
I assume it was one of the sunnier summer days, but I'm not 100 % sure.
Suddenly, he was startled awake by the feeling of an ice -cold hand on his shoulder.
He looked up and saw no one near him.
He did, however, see my two -year -old aunt toddling her way down the driveway toward the very busy street that they lived on.
My aunt must have woken up from her nap and decided to go exploring, following the clear path from the back porch door to the driveway.
He ran and grabbed her, but had no idea where the cold hand on his back came from.
Ma 'am was like, wake up.
ma 'am was like sir wake up she was like your toddler is waddling toward you fell asleep the final incident i'll bring up happened when my mom and aunt were a bit older one night probably when my aunt was about three or five years old my grandma woke up in the middle of the night nothing crazy woke her up but when she awake she realized the lights in the living room were on that was weird seeing as she definitely turned them off before going to bed distinctly remembering going to each light and turning them off they didn't have a switch you had to manually turn uh each one on and off not wanting
to waste electricity my grandma got up and went to turn off the lights since she was awakened up she decided to also check on my aunt and mom who were asleep in their room my mom was fine peacefully sleeping the night away my aunt on the other hand was not resting well instead she was fighting a very high fever soaked with sweat and super clammy my grandma doesn't remember how high it was and i don't think it required a hospital visit it but it definitely could have escalated if it hadn't been caught when it was in the morning my grandma asked my grandpa if he had gotten up before her and turned
on the lights then accidentally forgetting to turn them back off before heading to bed but he swore he hadn't my grandma believes ma 'am saw my aunt was sick and turned on the lights to wake up my grandparents so they could help her wow fucking ma 'am poor one of them seriously there were a couple other instances such as a run -in with a babysitter who ma 'am decided was not worthy of taking care of her kids as well as little things like footsteps being heard on the porch when nobody was there but over time as my aunt grew or got older ma 'am's presence slowly faded my grandma believes that ma 'am was tied
to the attic and when they renovated it to put her to put in her in my grandpa's new bedroom her presence had all but disappeared now for the history section again feel free to skip this if the story's too long i'm interested i promise i won't be offended the house was was originally built for a woman in the early 20th century who moved out west after contracting a lovely little disease known as tuberculosis.
The climate in the Bay Area was thought to be the best for surviving TB, and the house was built with a large wraparound porch that was large enough for this woman's bed to be left on it for her to sleep outside, which was believed to help cure those sick with TB.
Kind of wild when you think about it.
She lived in this house for a a while but unfortunately lost it due to being unable to keep it when the great depression hit following the foreclosure she went to live up in one of the settlements slash camps on mount tamal pace malpay small pace and the house was vacant until someone else bought it after the house changed hands a couple times the couple who sold it to my grandparents had an interesting encounter they saw an older woman still alive in this case on the sidewalk oh my i'm gonna cry oh staring longingly at the house the couple told my grandma about this after the house was purchased
believing it to be the original woman who owned and lost the house oh she must have either been uh cured of tb or somehow kept the symptoms at bay to live a long life my grandma believes that ma 'am is the original owner of the house who returned to her home whether due to love for the home or unfinished business i'm literally gonna cry seriously she thinks ma 'am never got to to have a family or kids, so when she saw my aunt, she felt motherly love towards her and decided to care for the family.
I firmly believe ma 'am existed, and I like to think she's still checking in every so often on the house, even with my mom and aunt all grown up and not living there anymore.
Who knows, maybe ma 'am stuck with my aunt to help her watch over my two cousins while my aunt recovered from back surgery.
Wherever she is, I hope she knows how grateful my family is for her care and protection.
Aww. I hope you enjoyed this story.
Remember to keep it weird. Ash, feel free to make your own, but I thought of this one and I kind of liked it.
We're going with yours, girl.
Hell yeah. So weird, in fact, that a super spooky but super awesome ghost nanny lives in your house to help you keep your kids safe and healthy.
Love you guys. Picture time.
Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh, this house is beautiful.
It's so pretty. I love it.
I love mayhem. Oh my god, those palm trees are fucking massive.
Oh my god, and your mom and aunt are adorable.
Oh, look at them. Adorable.
And look at that pumpkin.
I love that pumpkin.
Oh my god. and your grandparents are adorable i mickey that was an amazing story that was a great one to end it really was what a feel -good tale we love ma 'am we love may oh we love nana's all across the world oh my goodness okay oh this was a great one it was it was feel good at one at the end it was we love you guys and um we love when you send your listener tales in if you have a listener listener tale that you want to send in you can send it to morbid podcast at gmail .com with listener tale somewhere in the subject line y 'all you just looked crazy while i did that but we hope you keep listening
and we hope you keep it weird but that's where you don't send into your listener tale because i really want to hear it yeehaw © BF -WATCH TV 2021 If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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